Not in my lifetime (getting to be a significant amount of time) has there been such worldwide relief expressed at the swearing in of a new US president. It was as if the entire world took a collective deep breath and sigh when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in to the oval office. Although the time span of any democratic leader is short (maximum of 8 years in the US for presidents), the last four years have seemed interminably long. The fact that we came close to having another four years with the same president in power was almost too much to think about. As bad a disaster as the previous term was, I cannot imagine what another would have done, not only to America, but to the rest of the world. And it's fantastic to see President Biden getting down to work, even on inauguration day! So much to do, and so little time.
Canada, like other countries, has been walking a tightrope for the last four years. The US is our leading trading partner, and all has not been going that well. Of course with Alberta's dashed hopes of a dirty, stinking oil sands pipeline being built to serve the US energy needs, there will be economic fallout here. Too bad, really, but what choice is there? If now is not the time to minimize the use of oil and gas, then when?
Our little county continues to be ravaged by Covid, and the vaccine roll out has dried up for a while, too. Timing couldn't be worse for stopping the production of the vaccine. None at all is arriving in Canada next week. And the one after that? Who can say? And as Israel, a country that leads in the vaccine race, has discovered, one dose does not offer enough protection. If fact, if offers almost none. So until the second dose gets working we are still on our own, taking Vitamin D (we take 4400 mg daily), staying home, wearing a mask when out, and washing our hands a lot. Even my parents (91 and 89) have no idea when they will receive their first dose.
Turning now to Brexit (very briefly), it would appear that there are a few flies in the ointment, so to speak. Not terribly surprising, really. The last minute rush to "make a deal" has backfired in a number of areas, and the slight inconveniences expected at switchover seem to be slightly more than that, and growing every day. With one dangerous and incompetent world leader gone, perhaps it's time to send another one on his way.
In weather news, there isn't any. Our deep winter (January 10th to February 14th) has not arrived, nor does it appear that it will. Our temps (today excepted) have managed to go above or reach 0C nearly every day, with no polar vortex in sight over the upcoming two week forecast. Our six week much dreaded winter is now half over. There is no cold air, and there is no snow. The Detroit River has no ice, and the sun is now returning north at a good clip. Here is an image of last night's stunning sunset, as seen from our front porch.
I haven't blogged here in a while. We have been busy! Thanks to Caroline, our London bestie, we heard a recent all Bach recital by one of my favourite pianists, Andras Schiff. Presented in Wigmore Hall (with no audience), his playing was, as usual, a revelation. To hear the inner voices of Bach's music so clearly played, and to hear an entire Bach recital (from memory!) performed so flawlessly and seemingly effortlessly, was a real joy to experience. The concert is still on Youtube. Afterwards, the only thing I could say was, "Gee, I wish I could play the piano." And I wasn't kidding. I checked my new Bach 333 set, happy to discover that there are several key recordings by Schiff on the discs.
We had an in-house birthday party for Deb on Monday. However, we got a take away lunch from The Plant Base, a tiny but fabulous vegan place here in A'burg. Their utterly decadent and sensuous vegan cheesecakes served as the birthday cake. Usually it is snowy and cold on her day. Sure enough, at 10 pm it began to snow a little. Last year we were home that day, too, but shovelling our way out of a good sized snow storm. There was no wood fire, but lots of listening, movie watching, and a round of Carcasonne (Mage and Witch), which I lost handily.
I promise to return very soon with an update of movies watched, and more art from the DIA!
Mapman Mike
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